Tuesday 10 December 2013

What is beautiful?

Where does our concept of “beauty” come from?

Beauty is aspirational but it is also a mere convention. Who is deemed beautiful and the standard we are measured by is a fabrication designed to make you feel inadequate so you attempt to buy the means to be “beautiful”. Fashion, cosmetics, music stars, film stars, celebrities are based on this. “Beauty” is designed to make you spend money.

It is also based on a ludicrous assumption that we have fallen in love with. Judging somebody suggests that you hold that person responsible; for example, we judge academic or athletic performance because we assume that the person being judged actually did the work. We apply this same logic when we judge whether somebody is “beautiful”; we assume that they are responsible for their facial features and body type. However, our genes determined these characteristics when we were developing in the womb. You did not choose either your genes or these characteristics because you are incapable as you are developing to control the process of your development; control is only possible once you are outside of the womb and the developmental process has come to an end. Therefore, you are not responsible for the state in which you exist in the world, which includes how “beautiful” you are. Indeed, nobody chose your facial features or body type. It follows that when you judge yourself or others to be “beautiful” or “ugly” your judgement doesn’t apply to that person; nobody is responsible. Therefore, the statement “you are ugly” is devoid of meaning and can be shrugged off; it doesn’t apply to me, I’m not responsible; it’s the same as judging me for a murder committed in 1783; in no way can I be responsible. It simply makes no sense. This reasoning also applies to judgements about the colour of your skin or your gender.

We are beautiful for who we are and what we do in this life because these can be our responsibility.

Please, don’t judge somebody solely on whether they are “beautiful” or “ugly” because you are really judging nobody when you do that!

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